Wondering aloud about spiritual influences on artists

I read something in the Kathpress-Tagesdienst today that got me thinking.  Wolfgang Mozart’s father, Leopold, was from Augsburg and it was there he contact with Jesuits.  What is so interesting about that? 

In great artists you can sometimes find elements of some strain of spirituality due to the spiritual "ambient" the artist came from.  For example, the family of the painter Caravaggio had close ties to circle of St. Charles Borromeo.  The young painter imbibed a Borromean spirituality and it is discernible in his paintings.

I simply wonder about the influence of Ignatian spirituality on W.A. Mozart through his father or through other contacts and if it is discernible in his music.

"Mozart und die Jesuiten"

Am 8. Dezember strahlt das ORFRadioprogramm Ö 1 um 22.05 Uhr die Sendung "Die Mozarts in Augsburg" aus. In der von Johannes Leopold Mayer gemeinsam mit dem Wiener Jesuiten P. Leo Wallner gestalteten Sendung zum Mozart-Jahr geht es um das vielfältige Beziehungsgeflecht zwischen der Familie Mozart und Augsburg. Leopold Mozart, der Vater von Wolfgang Amadeus, wurde dort geboren. Schon als junger Mensch wurde er stark durch die in Augsburg wirkenden Jesuiten geprägt, eine Prägung, die auch für sein eigenes Erziehungskonzept gegenüber seinen Kindern wesentlich wurde. Daher könne man das Kapitel über "Die Mozarts in Augsburg" eigentlich auch "Mozart und die Jesuiten" betiteln, so P. Wallner.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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2 Comments

  1. Spiritual or Monetary? The artists were commissioned.

    However, I don’t doubt that there was a spiritual element behind some of the
    artist’s patrons. Archbishops Federico Borromeo (cousin of St. Carlo or Charles)
    and Alessandro Farnese were both patrons of painters during the
    Catholic-Reformation or Counter-Reformation before the Council of Trent. That
    whole period was very interesting and produced sacred art that we still
    call masterpieces today.

    Sacred art should instruct the viewer, inspire devotion and call them to prayer.

    Perhaps, we need a resurgance of religious patronage now?

  2. Interesting. I posted a meditation on a Caravaggio painting just yesterday. If you are interested, visit my blog.

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